Floor or ceiling.



PATENTED APR. 26, 1904.

w. N. WIGHT. FLOOR 0R CEILING.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 13, 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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WITNESSES: d@

PATENTED APR. 26, 1904.

, w. N. WIGHT.

FLOOR 0R CEILING.

AYPLIOATION FILED MAR. 13, 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

N0 MODEL.

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vINVENTOR:

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atented April 26, 1904.

` PATENT Erica.

WILLIAM N. WIGHT, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

FLOOR 0R CEILING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent m1758577, dated april 26, 1904 Application filed March 13,1903.

VTo t/Z 7,071,071 it Harry concern): i

Be it known that I, WILLIAM N. WIGHT, a citizen of the United States,residing in the bor- -crete and metal which is reinforced at the points of greatest strain.

My invention aims also to provide a floor which can bebuilt inlarge areas very rapidly and in substantially one continuous structure.

My invention provides also certain other advantageous features referred to in detail hereinafter.

The accompanying drawings illustrate structuresv embodying my invention. i

Figure 1` is a section of a complete .floor transverse to the I-beams which form the usual Fig. 2 isa plan of a complete bay thereon. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a corner of a bay. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are sections similar vto Fig. 1, showing other embodiments of the invention. Fig. 7 is a section parallel to the I-beams and transverse to the girders, -showing a construction including a permanent centering, the concrete being omitted from a portion of the ligure.

concrete in place in one half of the figure and p omitting it from the other half. Fig. 9 is a partial section on the line 9 9, Fig 7 According to one feature of my invention concrete forming the usual fioorror celling .plate is extended between the supports and a reinforcing metal fabric is embedded therein, Vand such fabric is reinforced atyits edges. It

is along the edges of the fabric adjacent to the supports that the greatest shearing strain comes, and as the resistance of concrete against .shearing is not. very great and a wire fabric which is of quite sulicient'cross-section for resisting tensile strains is less eflicient forresisting shearing strains the reinforcement at `the point stated provides a more uniform relation between the strains putupon the structure at different points and the internal resistance to such strains. The reinforced edges Fig. 8 is a section on the line 8 8 of Fig. 7, likewise showing the Serial No. 147,693. (No model.)

of the fabric arepreferably formed by bending back its edges, the original width of the fabric being of course sufficiently greater than the span between the supports to permit of bending back a snfficient'portion.

According to another feature of the invention which may be advantageously combined with that above described I form the metal fabric in a comparatively long sheet of approximately the width of the bay between the supports, a single sheet being preferably sufficient to extend the entire length of the supports. The fabric is then laid lengthwise between the supports with the greatest rapidity and a large area of concrete iiooring may be built quickly and in substantially one continuous structure.- The bending back of one or both edges of the sheet provides also a quick and easy Way of fitting the sheet to the width `of the bay, especially when the fabric is to rest on the lower flanges of the usual I-beams.

Referring to the embodiments illustrated,

the I-beams, which extend between walls or deeper gil-,ders and which with said walls'or girders inclose the usual bay, are shown' at A, supported at their ends upon girders B. The fabrics@ may be any one of the numerous4 fabrics known. I prefer, however, to use the wire fabric described in my application for patent, Serial No. 114,868, led July 9, 1902, and which may be described brieiiy as consisting of straight wires in one direction and cross-wires spacing said straight wires and bound thereto at their crossing-points. I prefer to have the straight wires running transversely to the beams A'to better resist the tensile strains acting in this direction; but the fabric may be formed with the straight wires, running in either direction. In the form of the invention show n in Fig. 1 this fabric rests at its edgesupon the lower flanges of the I-beams A and is bent up and back at its edges, as shown, to provide anadditional reinforce D. The portion D should be spaced a slight distance away from the main portion of the fabric. I thus obtaina double embedment of the wire in the concrete Without Weakening the latter. The ceiling-plate E is then molded of concrete in'the usual manner of any suitable depth. In connection with this ceil- Fig. 3.

ing-plate any style of fioor-plate or other fioor construction may be used. For example, I have shown the remaining space between the beams filled up with light material,l such as cinders F, and the usual fioor-sleepers G above this.

Fig. 2 shows the fabric C extending in a single sheet from one to the other of the girders B, the fabric resting on the lower fianges of the beams A, as illustrated in detail in The end of the fabric adjacent to the girder B may be made in any suitable shape or reinforced or supported in any desired manner. Likewise the ends of the beams A may be supported from the girders in any suitable mannermas, for example, by means of the angle-iron H.

As stated, the invention is capable of a variety of applications. For example, it may be applied in a fioor-plate supported upon the tops of any suitable supports, such as the concrete beams A'. (Shown in Fig. 4.) The concrete plate E' in this case forms the floorplate. If desired, any suitable style of ceiling-plate may be built in connection therewith. The construction may be further strengthened by supporting the fabric resting on the lower flanges of the I-beams, as in Fig. 1, by additional supports from the tops of such beams. For example, as indicated in Fig. 5, wire-stays J may extend over the tops of the beams A and be attached at their ends to the fabrics C, preferably a slight distance beyond the edge of the reinforcing portion D. Any

suitable floor may be used with this construction-such, for example, as a filling of cinders F and wooden sleepers Gr.

. The concrete may be reinforced throughout by two sheets of fabric, either or both of which is doubled at its edges. Such a construction is shown in Fig. 6, in which two substantially identical sheets C and Cl are arranged one above the other, so as to leave a sufficient strength of concrete between them, and the wires of one being staggered relatively to those of the other, so as to avoid creating vertical cleavage planes and so as to get the effect of a fabric with meshes of only onefourth the size of those in a single sheet of fabric without increasing the closeness of the wires in the plane of the fabric. rIhe fabric C' may rest directly upon the bent-back edge portion D of the fabric C and may be itself provided with a similar bent-back portion D', as shown.

According to another feature of my invention 1 provide an additional structure in the nature of a centering for supporting the concrete during the setting of the same, but which centering is permaneent. Such a construction is especially advantageous in cold weather or other conditions where the concrete sets very slowly and where it is desired to build the partitions of a building at once. i e ordinary wooden centering below the crete is put in place.

floor has to be removed to permit the building of partitions, and the delay caused by waiting for the cement of the floors to set is sometimes a matter of great annoyance and expense. By the provision of a permanent centering not only is this delay and annoyance avoided, the floors being immediately ready for the partitions, but also the concrete and the reinforcing metal embedded therein have their weight supported and are not subjected to any strain until the fioors are actually putin use, which yis always la considerable time after the building of them. This delay gives the concrete time to set firmly and adhere most strongly to the embedded reinforce and avoids any possible weakness of such adhesion which might be caused by the strain due to the weight of the structure while the concrete is green. The centering may be supported in a variety of ways. I prefer to support it to some extent at least from the reinforced wire fabric, so as to have the latter drawn taut at the time that the con- Figs. 7, 8, and 9 illustrate a construction employing such a centering. The centering shown is formed of wire-cloth K of sufficiently fine mesh to prevent the concrete passing through, this wirecloth being preferably of a width to span the distance between the lower flanges of the I- beams, as indicated in Fig. 8, and arranged for the most part at the level of the bottom of the I- beams, so as to support the con' crete with its lower face in this plane. At suitable intervals the wirecloth K is sup ported by extending upward and over transverse supporting-bars L, which may be carried in any suitable manner from the I- beams-as, for example, by merely resting their ends on the lower flanges, Fig. 9. The wire-cloth preferably extends downward and around the bottom of the girders B, as illustrated. The centering being in place a reinforcing fabric-such for example, as the wire fabric C-is laid across the bars L. 1n order to support the wire-cloth at points between the bars L and in order at the same time to have the fabric C taut and to bring it down as near the base of the concrete as possible, rods M of suitable length are held up against the bottom of the wire-cloth by means of ties, such as the twisted-wire ties N, passing through the wire-cloth and attached at their upper ends to the reinforcing fabric C at a point intermediate between the bars L. The wires N may be twisted to pull the fabric C quite taut and at the same time to hold up the wire-cloth K. The concrete may be then laid in place and the rods M removed, and the ceiling is ready at once for the application of the partitions beneath. The tie N may still connect the reinforcing fabric C and the centering fabric K, though after the concrete is in place this tie has fulfilled its principal function. The reinforcing wire fabric IOO may be bent back or otherwise doubled or reinforced at its edges, as indicated at D, Fig. 8. The construction described is obviously well adapted for use in connection with various other arrangements of the reinforcing fabrics' than with the specific arrangement shown; but it is specially adapted 'for this arrangement, because when the centering is formed the bay is entirely open at the top, so as to permit the laying of the reinforcing fabric in long continuous sheets of the full width of the bay. The cost of the centering' is not great and will often be found much less than the loss due to delayingthe partitions by the use of temporary7 wooden centering. To some extent also the centering fabric and the transverse bars L reinforce the concrete, the former being in the most advantageous positionmthat is to say, at the level of the bottom of the concrete.

Though I have described with great particularity of detail certain embodiments of' my invention, yet it is to be vunderstood that the invention is not vlimited to the specific embodiments illustrated. Various modifications thereof in detailand in the arrangement and combination of the parts may be made by those skilled in the art without departure from the invention.

What I claim isl. A floor-or ceiling comprising in combination supports, concrete extending between said supports, and a metal fabric embedded .therein and reinforced at its edges adjacent to and asuflcient distance inward from the edges of said supports to eifectively resist shearing strains at and adjacent to such edges.

2. A floor or ceiling vcomprising in combination supports, concrete extending between said supports, and a metal fabric embedded therein and bent upwardly and back at an edge adjacent to one of said supports to provide a double reinforce to effectively resist shearing strains at such edge.

' 3. A floor or ceiling comprising in combi'- nation supports, concrete extending between said supports, and a metal fabric embedded therein and reinforced at its edges adjacent to said supports to effectively resist shearing strains at such edges, said fabric being in a single sheet extending the entire length of said supports.

4. A Hoor or ceiling comprising in combination supports, concrete extending between said supports, and a metal fabric embedded therein, said fabric being in a single sheet extending the entire length of said supports and being bentback at an edge adjacent to one of said supports to effectively resist shearing strains at such edge and to fit exactly the width of said bay.

5. A Hoor or ceiling comprising in combination, a pair of I-be-ams forming a comparatively long and narrow bay between them, concrete extending between said beams, and a metal reinforce embedded therein consisting ofa fabric formed in a comparatively long sheet of approximately the width ofsaid bay so as to permit the ready setting in place of a large area of fabric and to form a large area of flooring in substantially one continuous structure, said 'sheet resting on the lower flanges ofpsaid beams and being bent, back horizontally at an'edge adjacent to one of said flanges to eectively resistk shearing strains at such edge and to fit exactly the width of said bay.

6. A floor or'ceiling comprising in combination, a pair of supports forminga comparatively long and narrow bay between them, concrete extending between said supports, and a metal reinforce embedded therein consisting of a fabric formed in a comparatively long sheet of approximately the width of said bay so as to permit the ready settingin place of a large area of fabric and to form a large area of flooring in substantially one continand backward at an edge adjacent to one of said beams to effectively resist shearing strains at such edge.

8. A floor or ceiling comprising in combination I-beams, concrete extending betweenV said beams, a metal fabric -resting on the lower fianges lof said beams and embeddedin said concrete, said fabric being reinforced at its edges adjacent to said beams to effectively resist shearing strains at such edges, and means for supporting said fabric from the tops of said beams. i l

9. A floor or ceilingcomprising in combination I-beams, concrete extending between said beams, a metal fabric resting on the lower anges of said beams and embedded in said concrete, said fabric being reinforced at its edges adjacent to saidbeams to effectively resist shearing strains at such edges, and stays extending over the tops of said beams and attached to the fabrics at each side of said beams.

l0. A floor or ceiling comprising in combination supports, concrete extending between said supports, and sheets of metal fabric separated from each other vertically and embedded in said concrete and having their meshes staggered relatively to each other', atleast one of said sheets being reinforced at its edges adjacent to said supports to effectively resist shearing strains at such edges.

1l. A iioor or ceiling comprising 1n comblnation Hoor-supports, a permanent centering,`

concrete extending between said floor-sup- IOO IIO

sisting of a fabric formed in a comparatively long sheet of approximately the width of the bay between said I-beams so as to permit the ready setting in place of a large area of fabric and to form a large area of ooring in substantially one continuous structure.

14. A fioor or ceiling comprising in Combination floor-supports, a permanent centering, concrete extending between said floor-supports and resting on said centering, transverse bars extending between said supports,

and a reinforcing fabric embedded in said concrete resting on said transverse bars and drawn down tautbetweensaid transverse bars.

15. Aoor or ceiling comprisingin combination Hoor-supports, a permanent centering, a reinforcing fabric supported above said centering, and connected thereto so as to draw said fabric down taut and to sustain said centering, and concrete extending between said floor-supports, resting on said centering and embedding said reinforcing fabric.

16. ln combination with a floor or ceiling, a centering comprising supporting-bars, a iexible floor-supporting portion resting directly on and supported by said bars, and additional means between said bars for supporting said flexible portion intermediate the bars.

In witness whereof 1 have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM N. VIGHT.

Vitnesses:

DOMINGO A. UsINA, FRED WHITE. 

